Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Observational Study
. 2016 Jun;95(23):e3874.
doi: 10.1097/MD.0000000000003874.

Clostridium difficile infection in a French university hospital: Eight years of prospective surveillance study

Nagham Khanafer  1 , Luc Oltra, Monique Hulin, Olivier Dauwalder, Francois Vandenesch, Philippe Vanhems
Affiliations
Observational Study

Clostridium difficile infection in a French university hospital: Eight years of prospective surveillance study

Nagham Khanafer et al. Medicine (Baltimore). 2016 Jun.

Erratum in

  • Erratum: Medicine, Volume 95, Issue 23: Erratum.
    [No authors listed] [No authors listed] Medicine (Baltimore). 2016 Jul 18;95(28):e0916. doi: 10.1097/01.md.0000489580.04709.16. eCollection 2016 Jul. Medicine (Baltimore). 2016. PMID: 31265603 Free PMC article.

Abstract

The epidemiology of Clostridium difficile infection (CDI) has changed with an increase in incidence and severity. Prospective surveillance was therefore implemented in a French university hospital to monitor the characteristics of patients at risk and to recognize local trends. Between 2007 and 2014, all hospitalized patients (≥18 years) with CDI were included. During the survey, the mean incidence rate of CDI was 2.9 per 10,000 hospital-days. In all, 590 patients were included. Most of the episodes were healthcare-associated (76.1%). The remaining cases were community-acquired (18.1%) and unknown (5.9%). The comparison with healthcare-associated cases showed that the community-acquired group had a lower rate of antimicrobial exposure (P < 0.001), proton pump inhibitor (P < 0.001), and immunosuppressive drugs (P = 0.02). Over the study period, death occurred in 61 patients (10.3%), with 18 (29.5%) being related to CDI according to the physician in charge of the patient. Active surveillance of CDI is required to obtain an accurate picture of the real dimensions of CDI.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Nagham Khanafer received a PhD grant from Sanofi Pasteur, nonfinancial support (travel expenses) from Alere and Sanofi Pasteur, and lecture fees from Astellas. Philippe Vanhems received scientific grants from Sanofi Pasteur, Sanofi MSD, and Anios, and personal fees from Sanofi Pasteur, BioMérieux, GSK, and Sanofi MSD. The other authors have no conflicts of interest to declare.

No author has a conflict of interest associated with the pulication of this work and all authors meet standard criteria for authorship.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Trends in testing for CDI between 2008 and 2014 in Edouard Herriot Hospital (Lyon, France). CDI, Clostridium difficile infection.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Trends in the incidence of CDI for 8 years in the Edouard Herriot Hospital (Lyon, France). Dotted line indicates cases per 1000 hospitalized patients. Black line indicates cases per 10,000 hospital-days. CDI, Clostridium difficile infection.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Trends in the incidence of CDI acquired at Edouard Herriot Hospital (Lyon, France) between 2007 and 2014 in geriatrics, hematology, ICU, and nephrology. Cases per 1000 hospitalized patients. (∗) Hematology ward transferred to another site by the end of 2011. CDI, Clostridium difficile infection; ICU, intensive care unit.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Martin M, Zingg W, Knoll E, et al. On behlaf of the PROHIBIT study group. National European guidelines for the prevention of Clostridium difficile infection: a systematic qualitative review. J Hosp Infect 2014; 87:212–219. - PubMed
    1. Feuerstadt P, Das R, Brandt LJ. The evolution of urban C. difficile infection (CDI): CDI in 2009-2011 is less severe and has better outcomes than CDI in 2006-2008. Am J Gastroenterol 2014; 109:1265–1276. - PubMed
    1. Bartlett JG. Clinical practice. Antibiotic-associated diarrhea. N Engl J Med 2002; 346:334–339. - PubMed
    1. Kim J, Kang JO, Kim H, et al. Epidemiology of Clostridium difficile infections in a tertiary-care hospital in Korea. Clin Microbiol Infect 2013; 19:521–527. - PubMed
    1. Muto CA, Blank MK, Marsh JW, et al. Control of an outbreak of infection with the hypervirulent Clostridium difficile BI strain in a university hospital using a comprehensive “bundle” approach. Clin Infect Dis 2007; 45:1266–1273. - PubMed

Publication types